Athletics: Seaforth run off with titles

Dec 5 2008

AYR Seaforth's young endurance athletes had a highly successful weekend at the Ayrshire Cross Country Championships at Dam Park.

The club fielded the biggest number of athletes in many years and the youngsters lifted five out of eight possible individual titles as well as two team titles.

The under 11 runners showed the older ones how to do it with Kirstin Oakley and Connor Gracie both having emphatic victories over the 1200m course. Both look exciting endurance prospects for the future.

In the girls’ race, Lisa Rennie finished seventh while Siobhan Rae took tenth to give Seaforth team silver. Richard Faulkner made his cross country debut in the boys’ race and finished an excellent fourth.

The under 13 boys’ race saw Shaun Rennie run strongly to pick up a well-deserved bronze medal. Ben Steven was sixth while Josh Andrew finished ninth to give the under 13 boys an excellent team win.

Seaforth dominated the under 15 races with national cross country champions Sarah Cassells and Finlay Rae both winning by large margins. David Carter had another excellent run to take silver in the boys’ race with Adam Steven not far behind in fourth. The boys’ team took gold while the girls (Sarah Cassells, Nicola Dunn and Lauren Goldie) had to settle for silver.

In the U17 age groups, Andrew Rae dominated the boys’ race from start to finish to take the title while Stephanie Dougan ran strongly to take second in the girls’ race. Alan Cherry had no difficulty stepping up to under 20 and put in an excellent performance to take bronze.

Results: U11 girls: 1. Kirstin Oakley 5:17; 7. Lisa Rennie 5:56; 10. Siobhan Rae 6:17; Team: 2nd; U15 girls: 1. Sarah Cassells 16:36; 6. Nicola Dunn 20:11; 7. Lauren Goldie 20:19; Team: 2nd.

U17 women: 2. Stephanie Dougan 27:44; 4. Louise Hill-Smith 30:11.

U11 boys: 1. Connor Gracie 5:00; 4. Richard Faulkner 5:22; U13 boys: 3. Shaun Rennie 13:43; 6. Ben Steven 14:13; 8. Christiano Santos 14:37; 9. Josh Andrews 15:33; Team: first.

U15 boys: 1. Finlay Rae 15:03; 2. David Carter 15:54; 4. Adam Steven 16:32+; 8. Calum Gracie 18:57; Team: 1st.

U17 men: 1. Andrew Rae 22:20; 6. Jonathon Dunn 26:08; U20 men: 3. Alan Cherry 35:13; Senior men: 15. Laurence Baker 37:22; 23. Tom McCulloch 40:47; 30. Brian Dunn 44:54; 34. David Rae 47:42.